


star dust

by hoegeta



Series: moments [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Romance, and I have a lot of feelings, and im soft, i just love cloud and tifa so much, idk what else to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27996015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoegeta/pseuds/hoegeta
Summary: Suddenly, the thought of ever sleeping alone again became unfathomable to him.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Series: moments [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892851
Comments: 12
Kudos: 118





	star dust

**Author's Note:**

> im really in my feelings idk what to do i love cloti so much someone help
> 
> enjoy the Fluff

Ever since he can remember, Cloud has always hated sharing a bed.

He’d liked his crib as a baby. Just him and his blankets and toys caged away behind wooden bars. But then he got older, and his dad wasn’t there anymore, and his mom’s bed was big and empty and cold. He didn’t like sleeping with her, wasn’t like the other kids in town who’d always snuck into their parents’ beds at night. Cloud didn’t do that. In Shinra, he had to share beds often in the barracks with his comrades, and he hated that, too. Those guys were always smelly with long limbs that flailed all over him as he slept, took up his personal space and snatched the blanket right from him.

(He’d slept on the floor often in Shinra.)

And then everything happened, and they were on the hunt for Sephiroth. A long, painful, grueling hunt that took them all over the world, found them sleeping in the oddest of places. On the grass with a fire crackling embers in their ears, on the buggy with Barret’s body glued to his side and his neck cramped, on the cold tile of the Highwind as he looked up at the stars and dreamed. And dreamed.

Often, they stayed at inns, too. And Cloud hated those nights, because he always, always ended up sharing a bed with someone. Whether it was Barret or Vincent or Cid or even Red, Cloud hated it. Barret is big and burly, and Cloud nearly always fell off the bed. Cid was noisy, snored and snored and Cloud always wished he had earplugs with him. Vincent was a little better, was mindful of space and didn’t snore like a fire alarm, but still, Cloud didn’t really appreciate the random bursts of, “Lucretia!” scaring him out of his wits in the middle of the night.

(Red XIII was pretty okay, though. Just a little. He was soft, but when he didn’t have a bath, he was _unbearable._ )

Cloud had been jealous of Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie, because they always seemed okay with sleeping in a bed together. He’d often found them with tangled limbs, their arms around each other, submerged in the sweetest of dreams.

Maybe he would just never, ever come to like sharing a bed with someone. Maybe he would sleep alone his entire life. He was fine with that fact. 

Until Tifa, of course. Tifa has the tendency to change things for him.

The first time he got a good night of sleep was before the final battle. And it seemed so ludicrous at the time, how they’d lost their friend, how everyone else left to find something to fight for, how Meteor was looming over like a disease bled into the sky, how the very end of them was so near he could taste it, and yet, still, he slept soundly. Had the sweetest of dreams, and he never had sweet dreams, not since Sephiroth sunk his blade into Aerith and laughed as he drifted away.

That night, Cloud dreamt of smiles. Of beautiful, tinkling laughter. Of his mom. Of Zack. Of the soft embrace of the sun, like liquid gold on his skin. Of the stars, brilliant and beautiful as they bathed him and Tifa in their light.

Tifa. Tifa’s the world to him, all the stars, and they’re always sunken into her eyes, glittering like they did back in Nibelheim. Their stars as they sat at the water tower and unknowingly tied their fates together. Tifa is the world, the stars, everything. She was all he had that final night, wandering hands and messy kisses and little, breathless laughs as they gave their all to each other, didn’t care where he ended and she began. That was all they wanted.

He slept soundly in her arms, the gentle thrum of her heartbeat lulling him into the deepest depths of peace. He liked the way she ran her fingers through his hair.

Suddenly, the thought of ever sleeping alone again became unfathomable to him.

And now, everything is over. The world is healing. There’s nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to save. It’s just him, Tifa, and Marlene in Edge. Barret’s out doing what Barret does, but he comes back often, and there’s always a bed for him. Tifa runs the bar. Cloud runs the delivery service. Everything is mundane, and he’s not used to mundane anymore.

“Tell me that story again,” Marlene says, tugging her blanket all the way to her chin. 

“It’s already late,” Cloud says, makes sure the blanket is draped all around her little body, especially over her feet so they won’t get cold. “You should sleep.”

“But I wanna hear the story!”

Cloud sighs. Marlene won’t be argued with.

“Once upon a time, a Soldier named Cloud fell through the ceiling of a church in Sector Five…”

It’s almost comical, how quickly Marlene always falls into a deep slumber when she hears this tale.

Cloud goes back downstairs, and Tifa and her workers are bustling about, churning drinks out like well-oiled machines. She looks at him as he comes down the stairs, her expression softening, sweat licked on her brow and a smile taking over the line of her lips.

His breath hitches, just a bit. He never gets tired of that smile.

“Tucked Marlene in?”

“Yeah.”

He yawns. It’s a timely one, brings tears to his eyes. He did have a long day of deliveries, and the fatigue has caught up with him, winds itself into all his limbs. 

“You should go to bed,” she tells him, clinking glasses and chatter behind her. “I’ll be up soon.”

The thought of getting into bed without her bothers him. Very, very much. It has ever since everything ended and they decided they wanted a life together. They built this little house from the ashes and rubble, and Barret helped them before he left. There aren’t many rooms, isn’t much space, but they like it anyway. It’s home. It’s always home. Home is where Tifa is.

He goes to their room. Their beds are still separate, and he wonders when they’ll get around to buying a bigger one. But it’s fine for now. The smaller bed allows him to get as close to her as he wants, and he doesn’t care about his own personal space or falling off. It all doesn’t matter when it’s her.

He takes a quick shower, lathers himself in Tifa’s honey wash and lets the dirt of the day drain away. He comes out, drapes himself in a t-shirt and some sweats, rolls himself into Tifa’s blanket. Her bed is softer than his, her sheets like velvet beneath him. And the fibers of the pillowcase carry her scent, sweet vanilla and a musk that’s distinctly her, and he bathes in it, drowns in it, doesn’t care to come back to the surface.

He feels at ease. At peace. At home. It’s the first time in years.

She comes up not long after. She’s exhausted, and it’s in the way she moves, slow and sluggish as she peels herself out of her clothes. She’s too tired to take a shower, crawls in next to him in only her bra and shorts, and he likes that, likes that he’ll get to drink in more of her skin with his fingers. 

“Still awake?” she murmurs.

“Yeah.”

He doesn’t really ever fall asleep without her anymore.

Tifa nuzzles against him, and he ducks his head into the cave of her chest, wraps his arms around her and soaks in her warmth. Her fingers, like habit, go to card through his hair, smoothing down the stubborn strands. Cloud takes in a breath that rattles all his bones, and he lets all of it go, the stress and chaos of the day melting away as he rests in Tifa’s arms. There isn’t any other place he’d like to be.

“Remember when I hated sharing a bed with someone?”

Tifa snorts out a laugh. “Yeah. I do. In your defense, sleeping with Barret or Cid doesn’t seem like much fun.”

It wasn’t. It absolutely wasn’t.

But with Tifa, it’s fine. It’s always fine. It’s only her. It’ll only ever be her.

He pulls back a bit to look at her, the carmine of her eyes, the moon drenched in them, the shimmering dust of the stars in them. And he lays his palm against the curve of her cheek, his fingers skittering, swiping the hair away from her forehead. Tifa’s all the stars, his world, his home, his everything, here against him, and it’s like nothing is wrong, like nothing was ever wrong.

“Goodnight,” she whispers to him, her lashes fluttering shut. She’s so beautiful it pains him, aches within his being.

It’s her. Only her. He sleeps soundly only with her. He’s grateful for it.

“Goodnight.”

He hopes he’ll never, ever have to have an empty bed again.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Author's Note:**

> writing this cleared my skin watered my crops cured my depression and soothed my soul i love these two so much i really don’t know what to do
> 
> thanks for reading <3


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